Vicky Pryce: most women in prison because of men

Vicky Pryce said her time in prison made her realise most women in prison are
there because of something their husbands, boyfriends or fathers had done.

Vicky Pryce has written PrisonomicsPhoto: Eddie Mulholland

By Claire Carter

9:57AM BST 06 Oct 2013

The economist served two months in prison after her defence that she was coerced by her husband Chris Huhne to take his speeding points failed.

Ms Pryce was first sent to Holloway Prison before she was transferred to an open prison and said she came across a lot of women who had “taken the rap for what others had done” and felt prison was not the best place for them.

Ms Pryce, 61, wrote a book - Prisonomics - about her experience of her incarceration and subsequent two months on tag at her home in London.

She told the Mail on Sunday: “What really did it was talking to the women in Holloway and realising they were there mostly because of some thing their husbands, brothers, fathers, had done.

"What I thought was that these women were very vulnerable when they had committed whatever it was they had committed and in some cases taking the rap for what others had done.”

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During her time at Holloway Prison Ms Pryce said she was surprised by the comradeship of fellow inmates, who offered her shampoo and extra blankets during her four days there. She said there was bullying, but she was lucky enough to escape it, with women mainly telling her of their shock that she had been jailed.

She explains in Prisonomics how she had to adapt to prison life early on, for example being told to have a hepatitis B injection by a nurse.

She writes: “I at first refused as I don’t much like needles but she explained it was for my protection in case an inmate were to bite me. There are a lot of drug addicts in prison who may be carrying the virus from infected needles.

“After her explanation, I did not hesitate for an instant.”

Ms Pryce was sentenced to eight months in prison in March for accepting speeding points on behalf of her husband Mr Huhne, the disgraced former Liberal Democrat cabinet leader.

He left her and her five children in 2010 for another woman, ending their 26 year marriage, after his affair was exposed.